Best Review Ever Not (12/10/10)
The next stop in the Chainsaw Gang tour: Alex Gordon Smith reviews interviews David Gatward.
And an assortment of review for Thief-taker that have piled up over the last few weeks.
“…Berren’s imaginary city is full of recognizable people and emotions all of which are brilliantly conveyed in Stephen Deas’s spare and powerful storytelling” www.lovereading4kids.co.uk
“any reader, young or old, should give this a try and see what I am talking about.” Literary Musings
One from Australia too: “The characters are interesting and even mysterious … a good, well-written story for teens.” Ysfetsos
But the world is a big place, filled with diverse opinion. “‘The Thief-Taker’s Apprentice’ by Stephen Deas is another example of mediocrity that shouldn’t have been let past the editor’s desk,” Yes. Stupid editor. Blame him, but don’t worry, the hose is quickly turned on me. We could also call it “very soggy and misshapen cake, or book, depending on how far we’re taking this analogy.” Why? Well because it plot has been “thrown against the wall like the proverbial pasta to see if it’ll stick” with “one contrivance after another” and “Nothing is explained, everyone acts entirely unrealistically, and by the end of the book the characters you have been reading have as much depth as a sheen of water on the driveway.”
Crikey, Fantasy Book Review. That sure sounds like a that sucked as a reading experience. And I kept you up late and made you miss sleep and everything, even though you skimmed and skipped large chunks? I do apologise.
Reviewed by an aspiring fantasy author who, I guess (I hope!) reckons he could do a lot better. Well go on then. Let that wasted evening goad you into achieving something and not be wasted after all.
October 12th, 2010 at 9: 37 pm
I love the way that even though they slate the book, they are still happy to pimp their buy now links. So zero integrity then.
- Neil.
October 12th, 2010 at 10: 57 pm
TTA definitely wasn’t the end all of YA fantasies, but it was still a fun summer read and easily one of the better starts to a new series that I’ve read.
October 13th, 2010 at 10: 24 pm
Everyone has the right to an opinion. However wrong it might be…
October 14th, 2010 at 4: 45 am
Well, he once read perspective jumping is a mark of poor writing. Let’s get rid of 99.9% of all SF&F then.
“[...] as I literally groaned out aloud.” Aspiring fantasy author fo sho.
October 14th, 2010 at 12: 29 pm
At least it was a specific criticism. The change of perspective is a bit of a cop-out; maybe a better writer would have seen another way to show what needed to be shown there.